Archives for February 11, 2007

'"There were a lot of things to like about the way our team played," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "That on most nights will lead to winning hockey games. We came out and set the tone of the physical end of it. The winning streak is great. The little things inside the game have led us to where we're at right now."'

'"You would love to be able to find another Paul Gaustad," Regier said, "but the reality of it is, if someone had come to us and asked if we would be willing to trade Paul Gaustad, the answer would have been "No.' So I suspect most teams, if we could find another one, would take the same position."'

'"That was kind of a wake-up call," Briere says now. "You're basically told that nobody wants you, that you're not good enough to play on anybody else's team. That was a tough blow to my ego. That was the message that made me realize that I had to change things about my game, change things about my attitude. After that, it went much better."'

‘The great majority of Sabres merchandise that has sold so well is of the “Buffaslug” design. “We’re still backlogged eight to 10 weeks in our store,” said Michael Gilbert, the Sabres’ director of public relations. “We sell far, far more of the new stuff.”‘

‘”We’re looking at weeks,” coach Lindy Ruff said, referring to Spacek, who was hurt 16 minutes in. The outlook is much worse for Gaustad, who is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday and not expected to return even if the Eastern Conference-leading Sabres make a deep playoff run. “Right now, he’s definitely done,” Regier said during the first intermission. “It’ll be a long process back.”‘

‘”Paul is a big loss from a physical presence standpoint,” said Ruff, whose team leads the NHL with 80 points. “I’m not going to sit here and deny the loss. He’s a lot of grit for us, a lot of character. … We’re going to miss Paul, there’s no doubt.”‘

‘”We’re in the part of the season where all the games are getting tighter and tighter,” Briere said. “All we can control is how hard we work. Sometimes you’re going to get the bounces, sometimes you’re not. Overall if you work hard like we have, we’re going to come up on top most nights.”‘